Pat, you are in Sunset zone 9, as well as USDA zone 9. Inkneedeep, you are in Sunset zone 18 or 19. This area is hilly to mountainous. Zone 18 is colder, either on a valley floor or up high. Zone 19, warmer, is on the lower slopes, cold temps slide off onto the valley floor, and you are low enough on the slope not to have colder weather d/t altitude. One way to tell is if there ever were citrus orchards by you. If there were, you are definitely zone 19. You two need to buy a sunset western gardening book, or at least check it out at your local library- this info is coming straight out of it ;-).

Thank you all so much! Yes, we're just a couple blocks from Jefferson, and it's flat from here clear to the ocean, so I'm going to just take 23 and run with it! :) It's probably six of one, half a dozen of the other, but the uncertainty was bugging me. And really, I feel so blessed being where we are. We do seem to be able to grow so many things, without so many of the pest and wild-weather problems of other regions, so I'm very thankful. Assuming we don't frost again like we did last year (at least not again soon), I think my current garden plan (okay, wild willy-nilly ever-changing scheme) can probably stay as is. I'm very excited about all the produce and fruit tree options! Not quite cold enough for cherries, let's say, but so many other options. And stanofh, are you saying Ficus doesn't become a tree elsewhere? Now that is an advantage of being another zone. I loathe ficus trees. I understand why the city plants them--so much biomass so fast--but they're a menace to everything in sight if you ask me. The neighbors behind us have a windbreak of them that has be hacked back constantly, although I have come to appreciate it as a potential ready source of leaf mold! Oh, I see that Ficus lyrata is different than our sidewalk trees, but still! :) Anyway, thanks all so much for the input! I love Gardenweb!!

Thank You. It's the Rock Island in Colorado County, Texas. It is now a ghost town. http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsSouth/Rock-Island-Texas.htm Kt

Oh yes yes! We have similar climates. I’m in the inland east bay near the base of Mt Diablo. There’s a few areas in the hot areas of NorCal that can be rhodie friendly, not as much as WA, but they can be healthy here. Here’s a few fragrant rhodies to try. You can buy them online now from Singing Tree Nursery, which I found out about from this forum and have EXTREMELY impressed with. Mine aren’t blooming now, but here’s some photos of their buds currently. Better photos of the blooms are at the links. I would buy the largest, most mature plants you can afford from them. They will be full of buds right now. They package them exquisitely so the buds won’t even break in transit! You could probably also get these in person at Sonoma Horticultural Nursery. If they have them blooming, you could experience the fragrance in person before you buy. I’m planning a trip there in April. Saville Form of R. maddenii https://www.singtree.com/plants/details/saville-form Kallista. Huge leaves and buds. https://www.singtree.com/plants/details/kalista Else Frye Improved Fragrantissimum would be a great choice too if you want something not quite as big. Fragrantissimum also. I am now training quite a few across a trellis against a fence like my little Else Frye.